SunTrust Sells 17-Story Durham Tower To Greenfire Development

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DURHAM, N.C. — SunTrust Bank has sold its historic 17-story office tower in downtown Raleigh to Greenfire Development for $4.1 million.

As part of the transaction, SunTrust said it would relocate its Carolinas Group headquarters to the Diamond View 1 office building that is adjacent to Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Some 125 employees will be affected by the move.

However, SunTrust is not abandoning the tower. It will lease back the first floor and mezzanine, maintain some operations there, and keep its sign at the top of the building.

SunTrust will fill occupy the second and third floors of the Diamond View I building, replacing GlaxoSmithKline as the tenant, according to a SunTrust spokesman.

"In making our site selections for a new headquarters, it was important for us to maintain our presence in downtown Durham," said Carolinas Group President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Furr. "We also wanted to ensure that the SunTrust building would remain an integral part of downtown and the skyline, and are pleased to have been able to achieve these goals with the transactions we are announcing today."

Moving to Diamond View 1 will be executive management, administration and business operations.

Retail bank branch, commercial and mortgage lending operations will remain downtown at the Art Deco tower, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Greenfire Development also said it had acquired the Trust building adjacent to the tower. Greenfire now owns 18 properties downtown. The company plans to invest $150 million in development in downtown Durham during the next five to seven years.

The Sun Trust tower was built in 1937. It was designed by the same firm that designed the Empire State Building.

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